Woof. Having now heard this, man, has it been a while since they’ve strung together more than one good album.

10

Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend

TBA

The first post-Rostam Batmanglij album.

11

Strand Of Oaks

Hard Love

2/17/2017

If there is one album that could unseat War on Drugs for Philly album of the year…

12

Beck

TBA

Wishful Thinking

There were rumors that this “party time” Beck album was going to come out in 2015.

13

Fleet Foxes

TBA

TBA

How uncool is it to like them now? Don’t care.

14

Grandaddy

Last Place

3/3/2017

Oh, nostalgia. You make my rankings so poor.

15

Bjork

TBA

Recording

Tell that French DJ, Tricky, to move out!

16

Jens Lekman

Life Will See You Now

2/17/2017

Not worried at all about there being good songs here. Somewhat worried about their being some clunkers.

17

Father John Misty

TBA

Rumors

No amount of social media nonsense will stop my music crush.

18

Spiritualized

TBA

TBA

Claimed as his last album.

19

The National

TBA

TBA

A weirdly conflicting band for me. Shrug.

20

MGMT

TBA

Rumors

Hope springs eternal.

21

Sheer Mag

TBA

TBA

Philly rawk at its finest.

22

Grizzly Bear

TBA

TBA

2009, please?

23

Broken Social Scene

TBA

TBA

Maybe this should be higher?

24

Jay Z

TBA

Rumors

Wouldn’t it be amazing, just fucking AMAZING, if Jay dropped a Beyonce diss album? Imagine the Tumblr metldown! Imagine if it weren’t a Samsung commercial again! That’s to say: if Jay-Z’s new album is a Beyonce diss, put this at #1.

25

Mac Demarco

TBA

TBA

26

Dirty Projectors

TBA

TBA

2009, please?

27

Gorillaz

TBA

TBA

28

Bruce Springsteen

TBA

TBA

29

Real Estate

TBA

TBA

30

Midlake + Jason Liddle +Ben Bridwell + Alex Kapranos Project

Vol. 1.

TBA

31

The Shins

Heartworms

3/10/2017

“Dead Alive” was good!

32

Steve Gunn

TBA

Rumors

33

Magnetic Fields

50 Song Memoir

3/3/2017

It’s 1999, right?

34

Jessie Ware

TBA

Wishful Thinking

35

Phoenix

TBA

TBA

36

Sigur Ros

TBA

Rumors

37

Allison Crutchfield

Tourist In This Town

1/27/2017

38

Earl Sweatshirt

TBA

TBA

39

School Boy Q

TBA

TBA

40

HAIM

TBA

TBA

Wouldn’t it be great if this were their Tusk?

41

Laura Marling

Semper Femina

3/10/2017

42

LIV

TBA

TBA

Swedish supergroup comparing their album to Tusk? GIVE IT TO ME NOW. (If it doesn’t suck.)

43

Sun Airway

Heraldic Black Cherry

TBA

Hey, another Philly album!

44

Pissed Jeans

Why Love Now

2/24/2107

45

Chromatics

Dear Tommy

Detox

Sure, this could exist.

46

Sun Kil Moon

Common As Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood

2/28/2017

I saw exactly one concert in 2016: 30 minutes of Mark Kozelok playing two songs and rambling. It was not great.

47

Foxygen

Hang

1/20/2017

Hope springs eternal. And so do suckers.

48

Japandroids

Near to the Wild Heart of Life

1/27/2017

Revival hype for a band I never listened to that much.

49

At the Drive-In

TBA

TBA

I am excited for a band I haven’t listened to in five plus years.

50

My Morning Jacket

TBA

Recording

51

King Krule

TBA

TBA

52

Ty Segall

Ty Segall

1/27/2017

53

The Jesus And Mary Chain

Damage And Joy

3/25/2017

54

Sky Ferreira

Masochism

TBA

55

Drake

More Life

TBA

56

Neutral Milk Hotel

TBA

Wishful Thinking

This would obviously be much, much higher if the rumor of new music wasn’t based on a goddamn cryptic painting.

Posted inRandom Noise|Comments Off on Noise Narcs Most Anticipated Albums of 2017

Our list of most anticipated albums of 2015 suffered from some dissapointments. Anticipated albums from PJ Harvey, Radiohead, Kanye, Run the Jewels, Beck, James Blake, and Kanye (although with each dreadful track he drops, that’s looking like a blessing) never materializing certainly hurt. But where was my head when I ranked Jamie XX at #48? Courtney Barnett at #46? But all and all, for albums in the top 20 that were actually released, I’d rank all of them in Very Good condition. And hey, at least we listed newcomers Viet Cong and Natalie Prass.

2016? Well, there are likely albums from PJ Harvey, Radiohead, Run the Jewels, LCD Soundsystem, and The xx. That top 5 seems about as bankable as you can get. And even the faintest hint of a Phosphorescent album gives me the vapors.

If I had to call some sleepers out of my ass, I’d go for Savages, Strand of Oaks, Car Seat Headrest, Lushlife, and Frankie Cosmos to take big steps into the spotlight with excellent albums.

A lot to be excited about in 2016. But me? I’m most excited to be on the vanguard of turning on Kanye, True Detective second season style. Swish is gonna jumpman that shark (groan) (but what? are we going to pretend that is less clever than the garbage on “Facts”?).

Rank

Artist

Album

Release Date / Release Certainty

Comment

1

PJ Harvey

TBA

TBA

I’m still basking in the glory of Let England Shake. Most artists self-consciously recording their albumnin Afghanistan and Washington DC would warrant a raised eyebrow. Not Miss Polly Jean.

2

Run the Jewels

Run the Jewels 3

TBA

Woof the Jewels 4 set for 2017?

3

Phosphorescent

TBA

Recording

Hard to Be Humble (When Your Last Two Albums Have Been This Good)

4

Radiohead

TBA

Recording

A little nervous about this.

5

LCD Soundsystem

TBA

TBA

Most predictable temporary retirement since Jordan.

6

The xx

TBA

TBA

Hype on fleek after that Jamie XX album.

7

Savages

Adore Life

1/22/2016

All their snarl plus the torch-y cleaned up sound of lead single “Adore Life.” I’m *pumped*.

8

James Blake

Radio Silence

TBA

Pretty curious to see where he’s going next.

9

Beck

TBA

Wishful thinking

I like sad Beck better.

10

FKA (ex Viet Cong)

TBA

TBA

Changing your name from Viet Cong over PC pressure is very silly. Their first album was very not silly.

11

Vampire Weekend

TBA

Rumors

Reliably better than I remember.

12

David Bowie

?

1/8/2016

I have a strong suspicion this will be unlistenable but awesome.

13

Bon Iver

TBA

Rumors

I think would be higher if I could finally shake the feeling that however good Bon Iver’s music is, it’s fundamentally lame.

14

Strand Of Oaks

TBA

Rumors

HEAL has been marching up in my esteem every day since its 2014 release.

15

Car Seat Headrest

Teens of Denial

TBA

Just missed my personal top ten. Will be very interesting to see what he does with a real studio recording.

16

Tortoise

The Catastrophist

1/22/2016

Lead single “Gesceap” sounds a little like the soundtrack from 90s computer game Skyroads. Which is to say: awesome.

Friend of NN Raj album looks to be a monster. Killer Mike guesting? “Body Double” looking to be a top track of the year? Tonybee Suites?

20

Miike Snow

III

3/4/2016

After numerous dud releases, I thought I’d never go back to this well. But “Genghis Khan” is stellar.

21

Japandroids

TBA

Rumors

22

Grizzly Bear

TBA

TBA

23

Grandaddy

TBA

TBA

Reunion albums always dissapoint, except when they don’t.

24

War on Drugs

TBA

Wishful Thinking

I really doubt this album will come out this year, but I’d be so stoked if it did.

25

Young Thug

Hy!?UN35

TBA

This is way too high. Unless it’s way too low.

26

M83

TBA

TBA

I suspect I should be more excited about this than I am.

27

Loretta Lynn

Full Circle

My favorite musical experience of the year as an audience member was requesting “Fist City” at a honkytonk in Nashville.

28

Drake

Views From the 6

TBA

29

Midlake + Jason Liddle +Ben Bridwell + Alex Kapranos Project

Vol. 1.

TBA

Midlake’s albums are overlooked to your own loss. I’m intrigued by this craziness.

30

Steve Gunn

TBA

Rumors

Would be a bit higher if this album was more certain (or if he were still in Philly #localbias).

31

Chromatics

Dear Tommy

TBA

Approaching Detox status.

32

Charles Bradley

Changes

TBA

This album won’t be as good as his live show. That’s aight.

33

Frank Ocean

Boys Don’t Cry

TBA

I still don’t buy the hype.

34

Gorillaz

TBA

TBA

35

M. Ward

More Rain

3/4/2016

36

MGMT

TBA

TBA

Another album as bad as the last, and I’m done.

37

Jeff Buckley

You and I

3/11/2016

I should know better than to be excited about this. I don’t.

38

Elliott Smith

Heaven Adores YouOST

2/5/2016

I should *really* know better than to be excited about this. I don’t.

39

A.M. Mills

TBA

TBA

Please?

40

ANOHNI (ex-Antony, ex-Antony and the Johnsons)

Hopelessness

TBA

Intensely political electronic album? Oh.

41

Haim

TBA

TBA

If they react against the haters by being less like Fleetwood Mac, that would be a giant mistake. In fact, everyone on this list should sound more like FM.

42

Ty Segall

Emotional Mugger

1/22/2016

43

The Strokes

TBA

TBA

44

Real Estate

TBA

Rumors

Was bored by their last album but woul be significantly higher if the rumors were more credible.

45

Lorde

TBA

TBA

46

Santigold

99?

2/26/2016

“Can’t Get Enough of Myself” with all its Afropop glory is more than enough reason to pay attention to Santigold,

47

Porches

Pool

2/5/2016

48

School of Seven Bells

SVIIB

2/5/2016

49

Chairlift

Moth

1/22/2016

50

Eleanor Friedberger

New View

1/22/2016

51

Animal Collective

Painting With

2/5/2016

If the rest of the album is as bad as “FloriDada” can we start a Kickstarter to get Panda Bear out of the band.

52

DJ Shadow

TBA

TBA

Man, 1996 was a long time ago.

53

M.I.A.

Matahdatah

TBA

54

Missy Elliott

TBA

TBA

55

Sigur Rs

TBA

TBA

56

Spiritualized

TBA

TBA

57

Swearin’

TBA

TBA

58

Junior Boys

Big Black Coat

2/5/2016

59

Ths Shins

TBA

TBA

60

Blood Orange

TBA

TBA

61

Local Natives

TBA

Recording

62

Major Lazer

Music Is the Weapon

My prediction: two killer tracks.

63

RJD2

Dame Fortune

64

Kanye West

Swish

A) Listen to that Paul McCartney track again. B) Now listen to the just released “Facts” C) It is hard to imagine anything worse than the McCartney+Kanye track. “Facts” is it. The only way “Facts” is not the worst major track of 2016 is if Swish has worse tracks.

Posted inRandom Noise|Comments Off on Noise Narcs’ Most Anticipated Albums of 2016

I’ll spare you the pre-amble: for the past two years, I’ve said that this would be the last year we’d do this list. So why break with tradition? i’m proud to announce Noise Narcs’ ultimate (or pen-ultimate or pen-pen-ultimate or…) top albums of the year list.

2015 continues to shape up as one of the most amazing musical years in forever. Kurt Vile, Earl Sweatshirt, Beach House, and much much more announced albums coming out this year. Sadly, Run the Jewels III isn’t coming out until 2016 now.

Man, and 2015’s releases keep getting better and better. Blur?!?!? Another Sun Kil Moon album? A promising step-forward from Torres? Godspeed!?!? Best Coast blissing out? Holy crap. Below are the list and its changes for the first two months of this truly amazing musical years.

Our most anticipated albums of 2014 was not so shabby. Beck, Sharon van Etten, St Vincent, Angel Olsen, and The War on Drugs were all on our top 10 most anticipated albums that ended up on our top ten of 2015. I take no blame for not predicting a D’Angelo album, although we gave Spoon (#22 anticipated vs ranked #3), Run the Jewels (#25 vs. #2), and I somehow didn’t anticipate anybody liking FKA Twigs (and still don’t).

On to 2015! And oh man, what a monster year for music this is looking to be.

Just in time for Valentine’s day, too late for anything else: Noise Narcs’ most anticipated albums of 2014.

Not doing a full recap of 2013’s most anticipated this year, but I will say this: dead on about #1 (Kurt Vile) and #2 (Phosphorescent). Flaming Lips, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Boards of Canada, Jay-Z in our top 10 anticipated of 2013? Considerably less right.

As was the case last year, I’ll update this periodically throughout the year. OG signals the album’s original position.

Posted inRandom Noise|Comments Off on Noise Narcs’ Most Anticipated Albums of 2014